–It’s sort of a screw-up–

California homeowners are rejecting new rebates for solar power equipment, saying the state has made installing the rooftop panels far more costly than expected.

As a result, Public Utilities Commission reports show a decline of 78% in rebate requests in the first three months of this year, compared with last year, and the solar installation industry says it is threatened with collapse across much of California.

At issue is a requirement the state added Jan. 1 for getting a rebate under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Million Solar Roofs program. Applicants must first sign up for costly pricing plans offered by utilities that charge more for their electricity during hours of peak demand.

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2 Responses to “–It’s sort of a screw-up–”

Do they get the higher rates for selling power back to the grid? ’cause if they do, then you’d think the plan would be good for people who produce more than they use- which shouldn’t be that hard, even somewhere as smoggy as california.

It was only those pricing plans that made solar marginally cost effective for us. But I’m in Berkeley, and don’t need air conditioning (and we use very little electricity. Unfortunately we have a garage apartment on the same meter, but PG&E would only replace it with two meters and the solar system would only apply to one. So we canceled after 8 months of planning and permit applications.